Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Day 1: The oldest and youngest females in my immediate family arrive in my peaceful little ocean front town...Mother and baby sister

I pick up mom, or Marmy as we call her, and my little sister, affectionately known as Weener, and take them over the the Beachside Bar and Grill situated on the ideal beachfront property of the Goleta bay coastline.

We dine on fine fish tacos and savory tri-tip sandwiches and walk it off with a stroll on the rustic Goleta fishing pier, before heading off to the the luxurious cheaply priced shopping offered by the one and only, Susie's Deals (where I bought the same 3 outfits and pair of sunglasses as weena....TWINSIES!)

After a brief trip to the apartment for some relaxation and refreshment we head north by car into the primitive Santa Barbara back country.

We take a pit stop at the native Chumash Indian cave paintings near the appropriately named Painted Cave Community.

Cave drawings

meandering

We meandered around the ruins of Knapp's castle from which one can see both views of the mighty pacific ocean on one side of the mountain range and the vast Cachuma reservoir on the other.

Knapp's castle was actually a mansion built by a man named Knapp who had owned a chemical company at the start of the 1900s.

view from Knapps

His house was built in 1916, sold in 1940, and burnt down 5 weeks later. It is privately owned property but is open to the public.

Then we stop at the cozy cabin just in time for a few beers accompanied by some light-hearted humor provided by Weener's joke app on her iPhone.

Joke of the night: What did the elephant say to the naked man? Answer: it's cute, but can it pick up peanuts?

(No I won't draw this one... and yes someone actually wrote that one...and that was probably the best joke that app had to offer).

The next day we spent the morning parked on the east beach of Santa Barbara's downtown waterfront to soak in some rays.

Trevor's outdoor office

Then the team headed up State Street to the Santa Barbara Brewing Company for, you guessed it, a couple of brewskies.

Conveniently, the Rutgers football team was playing in the a bowl game at that exact time. Ironically (in terms of the common misuses of the word), the bartender was also a new Jersey native. And since we were the only ones in his bar at 1:30pm on a Friday, he turned on the audio for us. And as an added bonus, Rutgers won! Up stream red team RahRahRah !

We are #1!

Once the game was over we were invited to a friend of a friend who works at a place with access to a huge mansion on a hill in the middle of no where with an outdoor pool and hot tub for pizza, beers, sunset, and good company.